Quarantine
by happyferret13
Summary: Eleven meant to take the Ponds for a nice, relaxing weekend. But when he accidentally lands them in a New Jersey hospital quarantined for a new and mysterious (And deadly) bacteria, there's no way of getting out. Not that he wants to. He's determined to get to the root of it, while still protecting the Ponds and the rest of the hospital - and himself.
1. Quarantine

**[A/N] The other day I was watching a repeat of ****_The Girl Who Waited _****when I remembered an old story idea involving Nine and Rose. Unfortunately, I'd have to go back and watch five hours worth of Nine repeats to do the Ninth Doctor and the story justice, so I opted to write it with Eleven, Amy and Rory instead. And, just so you know, this is set in America, because if I set it anywhere else, it'd sound unauthentic and fake. Anyway, enjoy!**

"Stay with me!" he pleaded as he continued performing chest compressions on the unconscious woman sprawled on the floor in front of him.

"Kyle," a voice said from above him. Without glancing up, he immediately recognized it as Ellie, a fellow doctor. A veteran doctor, twelve years his senior. Kyle didn't respond; he just kept going, counting silently in his head as he'd been taught when he first learned CPR.

_One, two, three… _

"She's gone, Kyle."

_One, two, three…_

"It's over. Let go."

_One, two, three…_

"What's the time?"

_One, two, three…_

"Come on. Time of death?"

He glanced up, finally, and stopped, sucking in a slow, deep breath. She was his first death. His first lost patient. His first failure.

"I – I'm sorry," he whispered, then cleared his throat. "It's twelve fourteen PM."

"Calm down," Ellie instructed. _Easy for her to say, _he thought, drawing to his feet and looking down at the woman pitifully.

"Anita… Anita Gonzalez, forty-three, time of death: twelve fourteen PM, January third."

"I'll wrap it up," offered Ellie as Kyle strode away. Suddenly, he stopped.

"I don't get it. She came in here with flu-like symptoms, and we discharged her. But then she just… she started vomiting blood and it all went so fast," he said quietly. "I've never seen this before. I've only been here for four years, but… but this is weird."

"We're placing the hospital under quarantine." He froze, swiveled around to face whoever just said that, told him that ludicrous lie, but before he even started rotating around, he recognized it, knew it was her. Ellie. She wasn't lying.

"What?" he asked, dumbfounded, bewildered.

"We're placing the hospital under quarantine," she repeated. "That woman from earlier – Anita. Whatever she had, it's bad. Two more patients have contracted it, and each died. This _is _new. It only lasts a few hours, and its incubation period isn't any longer."

"Oh, God…" he muttered, surprised. "Am I… how does it spread?" He was going to ask her if he caught it, if he was going to die, but abandoned that question for one that passed his lips more easily.

"We're not sure. It's some sort of bacteria, but I haven't seen it yet. I don't know what kind. That's all we know," she replied. "It's got a four to six hour incubation period, so just watch out the next hour or two, and you should be just fine."

"Oh. Good," he murmured, still trying to process what was happening.

"They're probably going to make an announcement soon—" she began, but was cut off by the announcement she'd just predicted.

"Attention," said a loud voice, and though he couldn't actually see or hear it, Kyle felt the entire hospital grow quiet. "This hospital is currently under quarantine. You are not allowed to enter or exit the hospital," the voice instructed in monotone. Kyle felt a chill run down his spine. "Do not be alarmed. This is only a precaution." The voice continued to drone on about safety precautions, but Kyle and Ellie's attention was diverted by the sudden appearance of a large blue box in the corner of the uninhabited hospital room.

"Where did that come from!?" Ellie gasped, staring at it in awe.

"What is it!?" Kyle exclaimed. Slowly, they approached the box, but then its doors swung open. Out strode a peculiarly dressed man.

"Hello," he said, smiling, adjusting his bowtie.

"Doctor," said a Scottish female voice from within the box, and then two more people popped out – a man and a woman, hand in hand. "Where are we?" Kyle stared slack jawed at the three of them. He nudged Ellie lightly.

"What?" she hissed, and he immediately recoiled.

"I think I've got it, whatever the woman had," he whispered.

"Crap," she breathed. "What's wrong?"

"I'm hallucinating. A box just magically appeared, at three people walked out of it," he replied quietly.

"Then I'm infected, too, and we're sharing a hallucination. I don't think so," she said lowly to Kyle, then raised her voice. "Who are you three?"

"Well," said one of the box-people, the one with the bowite. "I'm the Doctor."

**And there you have it, chapter one! Reviews are greatly appreciated. Let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Geronimo

**[A/N] Here we go, another, shorter chapter, just to keep you entertained until the next one. The next chapters will be from the perspective of the Doctor, Amy and Rory as opposed to Ellie and Kyle. This is mostly dialogue, which is weird for me because that just doesn't usually happen to me. Here you have it, chapter two:**

_ Previously: "Well," said one of the box-people, the one with the bowtie. "I'm the Doctor."_

* * *

"I'm Amy," the woman said, realizing the Doctor wasn't going to introduce her.

"And I'm Rory," the second man said.

"And – _where _did you come from?" Kyle blurted.

"The TARDIS," bowtie – _the Doctor – _said, pointing behind him at the box.

"Where did the box – TARDIS, right? – come from?"

"Gallifrey," the Doctor replied.

"Where is that?" Kyle was frightened. Something about that peculiar man seemed so… intimidating, he supposed, though he wasn't quite sure.

"Somewhere," the Doctor said quickly. "Where are we?"

"Rochester Hospital."

"Where's that?"

"Rochester." The answer seemed obvious to Kyle.

"Where?"

"New Jersey."

"Ah, America. And the year?"

"2013." There was an awkward pause. The Doctor just stood there, adjusted his bowtie. Finally, Ellie filled the silence.

"If you don't mind me asking," she said. "I'd like to know, _how _did you get in here, let alone that box? The hospital is under quarantine." Immediately, Amy and Rory expressed displeasure, fear. Rory drew his shirt collar over his mouth and nose.

"Quarantine?" the Doctor asked. He appeared curious more so than frightened, unlike his friends.

"Yeah," Kyle responded. "Quarantine."

"What disease?"

"It's new. A bacteria. That's all we know."

"You know," Ellie interjected. "They're examining the bacteria under a microscope. We could go take a look. You said you're a doctor, right?" The Doctor nearly objected to being an actual, legitimate doctor, not wanting to ruin his opportunity.

"Wait," Amy said. "What are _your _names?" It seemed a reasonable question.

"I'm Doctor Ellie MacLeod," Ellie replied. "That's Doctor Kyle Grayson."

"Please," Kyle insisted. "Call me Kyle."

"Okay, we're all acquainted. Let's go check out the bacteria. Oh, and, Doctor, did the CDC send you? Is that it?"

"Uh… sure." Pause. "Come along, Ponds!" He started off into the hallway, but Ellie stopped him.

"I'm the one that knows where the bacteria is," she explained.

"So show me where it is," he said, then, quietly, to Amy and Rory: "This is awesome!"

"Fine. Follow me," she said, exiting the room. The Doctor, Amy, Rory and Kyle followed suit. The Doctor grinned.

"Geronimo!"

**Review, follow, favorite, whatever. Hopefully you're enjoying it.**


	3. Rochester Diplobacilli

**[A/N] Yay, another chapter! This one took me a while to write. I promise, starting next chapter, all the action really starts to pick up and the bacteria really spreads. And, yes, this chapter is scientifically accurate. And there is no such thing as "Rochester Diplobacilli".**

"It's a diplobacilli," Ellie explained as Amy, Rory and the Doctor stared in fascination at the bacteria. "That means it's a rod-shaped bacteria – the bacilli part. And they're clumped together in pairs – the diplo part."

"Does it have a name?" Rory asked, intrigue by the bacteria, his inner-nurse taking charge. Amy snorted.

"Yeah, its name is Joey!" she laughed.

"Joey," the Doctor echoed. "Met a Joey once. Nice guy."

"It's a bacterium. It has a name, ma'am, but not a… a human one," Ellie spoke, not amused by their antics. "Well, actually, it has no name yet."

"We could name it after the hospital." Everyone turned to face Kyle, who up until that moment had remained entirely silent. "Rochester Diplobacilli."

"I've never seen that before," Ellie told him.

"Well," he said, persistent about naming the bacteria. "There's a first time for everything, right?" Ellie paused, considered this. _Rochester Diplobacilli. _

"Fine," she decided, finally. Kyle smiled a bit.

"What are the symptoms?" Rory asked.

"We're not entirely sure yet," Ellie replied.

"Victims?"

"Three. All of them died within six to twelve hours after exhibiting symptoms." There was another period of awkward silence. Rory contemplated the information, considered what he was going to do if someone got infected. The Doctor, obviously, had no intentions of leaving. Suddenly, from somewhere outside the lab, there was a crash. They all doubled around. The Doctor made his way towards the doorway and peered outside.

"Help me!" someone cried. Rory took a place beside the Doctor. Outside, in the hallway, laid a man, crumpled to the ground. His shirt was splotched with blood, a trail of which dribbled down his chin. Instincts took over, and Rory took off towards the man, the Doctor close behind. He knelt down beside him, rolled him over onto his back.

"Sir, it's alright," Rory told him. "I'm a nurse." He paused for a moment, glancing behind him at the Doctor. "And he's the Doctor. What's your name, sir?" The man groaned.

"Ted," he replied hoarsely.

"Alright, Ted, just hold on. You're going to be just fine." He glanced back again and noticed the others begin to trickle out of the lab.

"He's infected," Kyle exclaimed, pointing out the obvious. The Doctor fished around in his pocket and yanked out his sonic screwdriver. He scanned the man with it.

"This disease is unregistered. It's never, ever, in all of time, existed before. It's manufactured," the Doctor exclaimed, surprised.

"It's what?" Ellie asked.

"Explain later," Rory instructed. "We need to give this guy some antibiotics and get him lying down."

"Antibiotics don't work past the first stage." Rory shot her a disapproving glance.

"You said you didn't know the symptoms!"

"I'll tell you _everything _I know. Later."

"Right." With the Doctor's help, Rory hoisted the man up, and they, along with Kyle, carried him slowly to an empty room and placed him carefully on the bed.

"Why were you here, sir?" Rory asked the man, trying to keep him focused and conscious.

"I was visiting my friend, Greg," he said.

"There's more infections," a voice said, and they turned to face a young woman standing in the doorway. She seemed panicked, frantic.

"How many, Molly?" Ellie asked.

"Seventeen. Four of them have passed already," Molly replied.

"It spreads fast and it kills fast. This is bad," Ellie breathed, stressed.

"Alright," Rory cried. "We are going to sit down and figure out everything we know about this, because, according to him, this bacteria has never existed before in all of time and space and is probably manufactured." There was a ping, and Molly slipped out her cellphone.

"Another infection and three more deaths."

**Review, follow, favorite, blah, blah, blah. But only if you want to. =D**

**P.S. I cannot wait for Doctor Who to return! I am _so _excited. Here's a bonus smiley face: =D**


	4. What To Look For

**[A/N] Yes, another chapter. This is going to be a long story, so don't worry. In this chapter, more is revealed about Rochester Diplobacilli, so it's more of an explanatory chapter. Do you think I should do a lot of shorter chapters, like these, or a few large chapters? =D**

_Previously: "Alright," Rory cried. "We are going to sit down and figure out everything we know about this, because, according to him, this bacteria has never existed before in all of time and space and is probably manufactured." _

* * *

"The virus has three stages, each of which lasting two to three hours. The first and shortest stage is mostly flu-like symptoms, mild ones. Headache, fatigue, mild body aches and nausea, sometimes a low grade fever. According to Molly – she's the nurse from earlier – if antibiotics are administered within the first stage, they'll probably work. But the first stage is mild. We need to alert people that they need to watch out for even the mildest of symptoms," Ellie explained. They were sitting around a circular table, discussing everything they knew about the disease. A guy named Ryan had started going around the hospital with surgical masks, which came as a relief to the Ponds. But the Doctor didn't seem too relieved. In fact, they noticed, he remained unfazed by the entire situation.

"Okay," Rory said. "How do we do that?"

"An announcement," Kyle suggested. He got up from the table. "I'll go take care of that right now." He strode out of the room quickly.

"Then there's the second stage, the longest. Nausea, vomiting, and unfocused abdominal pain. Severe headache and fever ranging from one hundred to one hundred and three degrees Fahrenheit. Small traces of blood can be found in the victim's vomit and stools," she continued, then paused, letting them take it all in and giving Rory a chance to jot it all down on paper. "Then the third stage hits. It's characterized by massive internal bleeding. There's a lot more blood. Victims just spit up blood. There's not even always bloody vomit. Just straight up blood. Usually, all other symptoms remain. The abdominal pain grows more pronounced and sharp. Their temperature does not seem to waver at all. They suffer from extreme exhaustion and usually collapse and slip into a coma, then die." Rory cleared his throat.

"How… how does it spread?" he asked hesitantly.

"Contact with bodily fluids. And it seems to be airborne, too, hence the masks," Ellie replied. She slipped out her cellphone and scanned through her text messages. "Here's one from Molly," she announced. "Total of thirty-one infected, twelve dead, two survivals." She rose from her seat. "Now that we're done here, I have patients to help." She left, leaving the Ponds and the Doctor sitting there, surprised.

"Doctor, you're not wearing your mask," Amy pointed out, and the Time Lord smiled.

"I'm a Time Lord, Pond. I can't catch a human disease. And you can't catch a Time Lord disease," he replied. "But if it makes you feel better, I'll put it on." He slipped the mask back up over his mouth and nose.

"But you tell me if you feel sick, Doctor," Rory insisted.

"Yeah," Amy seconded. "If you die because you're too stubborn to admit you're sick, I'm going to kill you when we get out of here." The three giggled at the obvious logical fallacy in Amy's statement.

"You too, Amelia," the Doctor said. He called her Amelia. That was never a good sign. It meant he was concerned for her. "If you feel sick or anything, tell Rory." She nodded.

"If she is sick, even if it's just a cold, you will _never _hear the end of it!" Rory cried, and they erupted in laughter again.

"What're you saying, Williams!?" Amy retorted.

"That you'd complain about it for ages." Suddenly, the Doctor popped up.

"We should be helping. Helping's good," he suggested.

"How?" Amy asked.

"Good question!" the Doctor replied, rushing out of the room. Amy and Rory exchanged a bemused glance.

"I guess we're helping," Rory said. "At least now we know what to look for." Amy gave him a quick kiss, and they hurried off to help.


	5. Fear Of Loss

**[A/N] Chapter five is here! This is a very Amy-centric chapter. It is focused heavily on her. Let me know what you think. **

Amy was scared. No. Terrified. In fact, in all her travels with the Doctor, she couldn't think of any other instance during which she was nearly as afraid. And they'd been through some crazy stuff – from rescuing the starwhale to the vampire-fish-things. Rory was erased from time. And then the Doctor jumpstarted the universe. And – though she didn't dare let her thoughts drift towards it – that dreadful day at Lake Silencio. And the Gangers, and then Demon's Run, and so on and so forth. But, somehow, this topped it all. And she couldn't quite place why. But all she knew was she wanted out of that hospital, soon. Especially now that the bacteria was spreading – _fast. _

"Amy?" Rory called, yanking her out of her train of thought. She looked up and blinked a few times, staring at him vaguely.

"Uh, yeah?" she stammered, moving towards where Rory stood beside one of the victims, a dying one, too far gone.

"Amy, are you alright?" he asked worriedly. "You feel alright?" She nodded.

"I'm fine, Rory. Just… worried. Where's the Doctor?" she said quietly. She stole a glance at the man lying on the bed. His pallor was that of a ghost. The only pigment remaining in the man's skin was a slight flush of red upon his cheeks. His lips were red with blood, which dribbled down his chin and formed small splotches on his shirt. The man looked damn close to death. She couldn't keep her subconscious from picturing the Doctor like that, or, worse yet, Rory, and cringed at the thought of either of them becoming infected.

"I don't know where the Doctor is. He's off somewhere," Rory replied. "What's wrong? What's bugging you?" She paused, debating between telling the truth about her insecurities and blurting out a nice, neat little lie. Convenience won out over honesty.

"I don't know," she said. "Just forget it. Never mind."

"Okay. Amy, I need you to go find Ellie and ask her the number of infections and deaths," he instructed her, and Amy couldn't think of any worse of a job. She walked out quickly, deciding she'd be better off getting it out of the way sooner rather than later. She was pleased to find her a short walk away, talking with the Doctor.

"Ellie," she said, hoping she wasn't interrupting anything important. "Rory wants to know the number of deaths and infections." Ellie thought about this for a moment.

"Forty-three infections. Twenty dead. And three survivals," she replied, rattling off the statistics which, it appeared to Amy, she had committed to memory.

"Thank you," she muttered and turned to walk away.

"Pond," the Doctor said. "What's wrong?" Amy turned again to face the concerned Time Lord. She forced a smile across her face.

"Nothing. Everything's fine, Doctor," she replied carefully. A grin crossed his lips. An authentic one, she noted. "Have you figured anything new out?"

"We believe it to be a terrorist attack," Ellie stated softly, and the Doctor confirmed this with a nod, and a probably-an-alien-terrorist wink.

"Alright," she said and walked off, back to Rory. It didn't take long to walk the short distance back to the room.

"What'd she say?" Rory asked as she entered. She stopped for a moment, trying to recall the numbers.

"She said there's been forty-three infections. Twenty are dead, and three have survived," she replied. "Ellie thinks it's a terrorist attack." Rory was speechless.

"Hmm," was his only response. But, then again, he wasn't sure why anything surprised him anymore.

"Yeah," she said. She walked towards the exit, but stopped at the doorway and suggested, quietly, "We should ask the Doctor to get us out of her." Rory didn't reply, so she wasn't even certain if he heard her. She strolled the hallways alone for a little bit before deciding to seek out the Doctor again. When she found him, he was alone.

"What do you think it is? A terrorist attack?" she asked.

"No, no, too simple. It has to be alien. This disease has never before, in all of time in space, existed. Biogenetically engineered, maybe. Whatever species produced it is probably immune. I'll have to look into that," he said. He was rambling again, but, for some reason, Amy took comfort in this.

"So, this is alien?" she asked. "That's what you're saying, yeah?"

"Obviously," he said, then caught himself.

"What are you going to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"About the bacteria. What are you going to do about it?"

"Figure out what started it. From there, we can figure out how to fight it, and – Presto! – day saved."

"So, we're staying? We're staying here?" In a hospital, she felt like adding, quarantined for a deadly bacteria with a massive fatality rate that's never existed before, ever. He nodded.

"I'm going to take a look in the TARDIS, see if there's anything useful." With that, he was off, but at least this time Amy knew where he was going. She felt an urge to follow him, but ignored it. Instead, she returned to wandering the vast halls, being careful not to get lost. At least she knew the Doctor would be okay, she realized. She knew that he did not die in that hospital. But that still left Rory. And, no matter what closure she had in terms of the Doctor, it wasn't enough. Rory. She could lose Rory to some stupid virus – bacteria – and that would be it. Now she knew what she was afraid of. It wasn't fear of the unknown; it was fear of _loss. _She slid against the wall, down to the floor, and cried.

**Review, favorite, why do I even ask you people to do this? **

**P.S. Oh, my God, Saturday. I'm ****_so _****happy Doctor Who is ****_finally _****back! =D**


	6. The Impossible Book

And here we have it, another chapter! Sorry to keep you waiting for this one. But it's here now, so rejoice. Huge thanks to my new beta reader, flower gettin' lady. =D

It was quiet as he stepped into the TARDIS, alone. With one last glance into the empty hallway, the Doctor swung the door closed. He strolled over to the console of his beloved ship and stared at it, deep in thought.

"Where am I going to get information on a bacteria that shouldn't exist?" he asked aloud, to no one at all in particular. The TARDIS hummed, and he smiled slightly. Down the hallway, he saw the door to the library wide open. "Thanks," he said quickly to the TARDIS before heading down the corridor.

As he stepped into the library, he realized it was the first time he'd been in it since he regenerated. Since he fell into it when the TARDIS crashed, and into the pool, too. It was a simple room lined with tons of books of all sorts of sizes and in a wide variety of languages. Blue striped wallpaper covered the walls, though for the most part they were obscured by bookshelves. The floors were a soft oak, and in the center of the room sat a sofa and a loveseat, atop a white rug. Between the two was a plain coffee table. There was no swimming pool.

"Now what?" he asked the TARDIS. He scanned the room rapidly while he waited for a reply. His gaze came to rest on an open book left on the coffee table. He picked it up carefully.

"Rochester Diplobacilli," he read aloud. "More popularly but less formally known as the Apocalypse Disease, first originated in a hospital on the planet Earth. Only small outbreaks of it occurred on Earth until humans further began to explore other planets. At that time, the bacteria travelled quickly. Outside of Earth, it was first discovered on the planet Apalapucia, and the initial outbreak's death toll is only bettered on that planet by a later outbreak of the swiftly fatal Chen7." He froze, his voice wavering. Did that mean he could be infected? He forced himself to continue. "It spread to a number of planets containing species with binary vascular systems, or two hearts, because it was not believed to be contagious or lethal to those beings. The vascular system of an organism, contrary to popular belief, played no role in the lethality of the disease. Only the species of the individual and the medical care they received affected lethality." He paused again. So… he _could _get it? Nothing made sense to him. How could _he _catch it? Diseases just don't jump from species to species in such an interplanetary fashion. "In some species, there is a fatality of about 100%, such as in humans. For other species, such as Apalapucians and several other organisms like them, there is about a 50% chance of death. Rochester Diplobacilli has killed approximately 4.6 trillion individuals since it first appeared." There was nothing more written on the bacteria after that. His mind still reeling from the new and surprising information, he quickly checked the year the book was published. It was published in the year 2114, on Apalapucia, thus all the references. He stood in silence, trying to comprehend it all. And then it occurred to him: If the disease had never, in all of time and space, existed up until this point, how was there an article in a book about it? Things weren't adding up, and he sensed something was off. Suddenly, the silence was broken by the sound of the TARDIS doors swinging open. He tensed up, staring uneasily at the door.

"Doctor?" he heard Amy's voice call, and relaxed a bit. She wandered down the hallway quickly and appeared in the doorway. Quickly, the Doctor put the book down. "What're you doing?" she asked.

"Looking for information. There is none – unsurprisingly – because this disease never has and never will exist," he replied.

"I thought there was a swimming pool in here," she stated absentmindedly.

"There was. Is there something you want, Pond?"

"They're rioting, a bunch of the healthy people. Rory and Dr. MacLeod want your help," she explained. She started back towards the door, and with one cautious glance back at the book, the Doctor followed shortly behind, mulling over the impossible book.


End file.
